Simply because video poker you are playing from https://www.lacafettebrooklyn.com/ looks similarly as slot machine, doesn’t mean it is. The mechanics of what is happening on the screen is completely different from what you would expect. The biggest difference between video poker and slots is the information that players can access.
Slots and Video Poker
With slot machines, players are paid certain prize amounts depending on the combination of the symbols that come up. There’s a chance to win a thousand dollars for a bet as small as one dollar. This probability is being controlled by the RNG or Random Number Generator program of the slot machine. This setting is predetermined by the manufacturer to meet certain percentage of the payback expected.
Having the ability of manipulating probabilities and comparing it with payout amount of the combination, the manufacturer is able to predict how much the machine can pay over time using few tenths of percentage point.
How about Video Poker?
Unlike with video poker, rather than using spinning reels to determine whether you win or lose, all the action is happening over 5 “stops”. The end result in every stop is from the deck of a standard playing card. In majority of the video poker games, it is using virtual standard deck of card. Though there are some games or machines that are using a 53-card deck. The odd one out is the joker, which is intentionally thrown as a wild card.
Because the probability of getting any card or combination in particular is already known, you will be able to compare the payouts for some hands. This is along with the probability of having that hand and have the expected percentage for payback.
Playing Video Poker
When playing video poker, rather than being paid off by some sort of arbitrary combination similar to three cherries, you will be paid off as per the ranking of the poker hand of the end result. For instance, Royal Flush is considered to be the best playing hand in the game, straight flush is typically next to the best and so forth.
Depending on the hand that you end up playing on that particular round, it has a corresponding payout which will depend as well on the amount of bet that you have made. Now mind you, take some time to have idea of the hand types for poker before actually playing one. This way, you know when you should switch or take another card.